1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a visual and sound telecommunication system comprising a terminal, a camera, a screen and a handset with microphone and earpiece. The invention applies to video telephones, but also to any system such as videoconferencing or videomeeting or audioconferencing equipment.
b 2. Discussion of Background
During a communication by video telephony, it is important that the subject remain relatively immobile relative to the camera of the video telephone, so that his distant interlocutor has an image of suitable quality, and in particular an image which can be viewed without straining and without discomfort under optimal conditions. This is all the more true as the transmitted image is coded to reduce the output and to adapt it to that of the access of a digital system. The image in this case must develop slowly.
However, sometimes during a video telephone communication, an interlocutor has to perform operations by acting, for example, on mobile parts or keys of the video telephone.
For example, in the case of a video telephone equipped with a framing system controlled by the terminal, it is possible to have to type on the keyboard of the terminal to control the orientation of the camera and thus to modify its characteristic framing, or else it is possible to desire to modify the adjustments, in brightness or in contrast, of the display screen or of its video telephone, or to act on the position of the screen (case of liquid crystals which have a reduced observation cone), etc., or else it is possible to desire to put the unit in so-called "hands free" position by pressing a suitable key of the terminal.
These operations by the user are undesirable in that they interfere with the visual comfort of the interlocutor located at the other end.
In particular, the user may have to move so close to the terminal so that his face becomes too close to the camera and thus his image deteriorates in quality. Another possibility consists in that the user performing the manipulation makes his hand pass through the field of the camera, very close to it. Then as a result, the image available to the distant interlocutor is temporarily wholly or partially hidden, which is, of course, undesirable.
Finally, it is possible that the user leaves the field of the camera to perform the manipulations.
This invention makes it possible to eliminate these problems.